Networking rail – the social website that’s hit the buffers

An official website hailed as "Facebook for commuters" was branded a disaster by experts today.

Together for London was billed as a forum where travellers could work together to improve the capital's transport system. Yet two months after a high-profile launch by Transport for London, the site is a virtual ghost town.

Among the hopes for the site was that it would cut unsociable behaviour on the Tube and buses. Users can create an avatar - called a "Little Londoner", who can then set up a campaign along the lines of "I'll keep my feet off the seats" or "Keep newspapers off the floor". People can even sign up to buy T-shirts with their slogans on them.

TfL launched the site with an advertising campaign, and posters of Little Londoners, each with a slogan, were put up across the transport network. "People from all walks of life meet on public transport and what's acceptable behaviour to some may irritate or make others feel uncomfortable," said transport commissioner Peter Hendy at the time.

But today a technology expert claimed the site had failed to engage the public. Most discussions started on it have attracted no comments from visitors.

"Transport for London have completely missed the point with this," said Paul Allen, editor of Computeractive magazine. "When I first saw the posters I thought this was aimed at children. It's twee and childish, and wholly inappropriate for what is a very serious issue.

"There is a place for these social networking sites in finding out what commuters think. But this was appallingly executed and a disaster, so I'm not surprised to see how badly it has done."

Transport for London defended the site, claiming it was still relevant. "We've only been running for 35 days, so people shouldn't be too judgmental," a spokesman said. TfL admitted only 113 discussions had been posted so far, and 176 campaigns started out of an estimated three million commuters.

But the spokesman added: "We have received over 200,000 'page views' and we believe it has been a success. It may look as if the discussion sites are empty but compared to other online forums we believe it is doing well. We plan to continue."